


Bobsled Team

by SilverInk



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Airplanes, Arthur & Douglas & Maxie are only there briefly, Awkward Romance, Coffee, F/M, First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, Kinda, Martin is a nerd & Theresa loves it, Museums, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-02 17:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverInk/pseuds/SilverInk
Summary: Princess Theresa and Captain Martin Crieff get to know each other, and spend a day exploring Duxford Air Museum together...





	1. Theresa

When Theresa booked her and Maxie’s flight to Fitton, her first impression of the MJN Air pilots was that they weren’t too terribly professional. She couldn’t blame them for being skeptical about getting a call from a _princess,_ though, and she was more amused than anything that they both thought the other was pulling a prank. 

 

Still, she really wasn’t expecting to like them as much as she did.

 

Douglas, the first officer, was friendly, though perhaps a little overly confident, and seemed to enjoy teasing the captain quite a bit, which was very entertaining. Arthur was surprisingly good with her brother Maxie, which she appreciated to no end. But she was oddly drawn to Martin and his endearing shy awkwardness. He clearly expected her to be the kind of princess who takes her title far too seriously, and she was delighted by his reactions when she proved otherwise. Especially when she asked him about his medals.

 

“Those are just my decorations,” he told her, a light blush almost hiding the freckles dusting his cheeks.

 

“Oh, you come with decorations?” she asked teasingly. “Like a little Christmas tree! What are they for?”

 

Martin was clearly embarrassed, his face now flushing deeply, especially when Douglas tried to tease him about them, but Theresa did her best to make him feel less nervous. She certainly didn’t laugh at his Cadet Forces Medal and Millennium Star, like he seemed to expect.

 

“Well, I think we can do a little better than that,” she said, and suggested medals he would have earned from helping the king and princess of Liechtenstein, as well as the Holy Cross of St Lucius, only teasing lightly because she couldn’t help enjoying how easily he could get flustered.

 

The flight to Fitton was spent in the cabin, watching Arthur and Maxie play games like European Monarch Top Trumps, which was basically just an excuse for Maxie to gloat about his title. Theresa was glad she’d brought a book.

 

After a couple hours, she was done with her book and Maxie and Arthur convinced her to play a card game with them, but Maxie got bored after about three turns and then it was back to European Monarch Top Trumps. Theresa sighed, glancing out the window, and she realized they were flying in circles above Fitton airport. They must have extra fuel to burn off, she thought automatically, and Martin confirmed that a moment later when he entered the cabin. He seemed surprised and impressed that she knew that. 

 

Before he went back onto the flight deck, he took Maxie aside and explained to him why he can’t tell people he’s annoyed with that he’s going to have their head cut off. “It makes you look like a man with a medal for being alive in the year two thousand,” Martin told him. Theresa had tried to tell Maxie the same thing a few times without success, but it seemed that Martin had finally been the one to get through to her brother, which Theresa was immeasurably grateful for.

 

She went up to thank him a few moments later, and he shrugged modestly and told her it was nothing, though to her it really was something. It seemed to be exactly what Maxie needed. Then she told him how her childhood dream had been to be a pilot, which was why she knew so much about landing weights, and he explained that had been his childhood dream too.

 

“You’re doing the thing you’ve always wanted to do,” she said, just a little envious. “You’re very lucky.”

 

“I suppose I am,” he said hesitantly. “No one’s ever called me lucky before.” There was a sudden beeping behind him from the coms, and Douglas, still in his seat, commented,

 

“And this, I’m afraid, may illustrate why not.”

 

The furious woman on the other end immediately tore into Martin, and Theresa was reminded a little of a dragon… Channeling her mother, she broke into the conversation and introduced herself with her ridiculously long full title, demanded that the woman, Carolyn, search the airport for assassins, and said that the delay was Carolyn’s fault for not being there to receive them.

 

“Sweep for those assassins and then call us back!” Theresa commanded.

 

“Yes, Your Highness,” Carolyn said, and even though Theresa hardly knew her, she knew this kind of capitulation was a rare thing from Carolyn. Theresa hung up, turning back to Martin.

 

“Wow…” Martin breathed, clearly impressed. “Thank you _so much,_ you saved my life.” Quite literally, by the sound of it.

 

“Yes, well,” she teased, “always useful to have a princess around to rescue you from dragons.”

 

“Honestly, I don’t know how I can thank you.”

 

“Well, think of something.” She had her own idea already. Having a nice dinner with him would be lovely. Maybe he could show her his favorite restaurant, and give her a quick tour of the town after…

 

“Ok…” 

 

“I’m waiting.”

 

“Ok… I’m thinking of something,” he said carefully, slightly disbelieving, “but I don’t know if it’s the same thing you’re thinking of.”

 

“Well, you won’t know until you try, will you?” she encouraged.

 

Taking a deep breath, he said it all in a nervous rush: “Would you like to go to Duxford Air Museum with me?”

 

“Ok, so it’s not quite what I was thinking of—” she started, amused and surprised but very endeared, and he interrupted, stumbling over his words.

 

“God, oh no I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, I mean—”

 

“No, but it’s not bad,” Theresa assured him, and he laughed nervously. “We can go tomorrow?”

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure!” She wished she could stay a little longer to talk, but Maxie was calling to her, impatient as ever. 

 

“See you later,” she said, then turned to follow her brother. Both pilots seemed shocked and a little awed.


	2. Martin

He had a date.

 

He had a date, with the _princess of Liechtenstein_. Was this really his life now? Or was he dreaming?

 

Even better than that, she was interested in aviation, and she was letting him take her to the Duxford Air Museum. 

 

They’d agreed to meet there, and Martin tapped his foot anxiously as he waited in the lobby, both their tickets in hand. He glanced outside and saw a light sprinkle of rain had started up. He glanced at his watch. Theresa wasn’t late, but Martin had gotten here early enough that he was starting to get a little impatient. It was still about ten minutes until she was supposed to be here, so Martin stopped in at a nearby coffee shop to get them some drinks to help them warm up a bit—two mochas, since he wasn’t sure what Theresa would want.

 

She was waiting in the lobby when he got back, her oversized pink sweater slightly damp and tiny water drops clinging to her hair, and greeted him with a bright smile.

 

“Oh good, I was worried I was too early!” she laughed, taking her coffee from him.

 

“Oh, no no, I was here early too. I thought hot drinks would be good on a day like this.”

 

“Mmm, you were right, this is just what I needed,” she said, taking a long sip of her coffee. “Mochas are my favorite, how did you know? Thank you Martin.” He couldn’t entirely tell if she was teasing him or not, but he found he didn’t care all that much; her gentle teasing somehow managed to make him feel noticed and appreciated rather than irritated and self-conscious, and he was surprised at how much he enjoyed it.

 

“It’s no problem,” he smiled, and there was a pause while she sipped her coffee again, both hands wrapped around the paper cup.

 

“Shall we?” she suggested, gesturing toward the museum entrance. “I’d love to see what you wanted to show me.”

 

“Oh! Oh, right, yes,” he stuttered, immediately feeling his face heat up. Why couldn’t he act right around this lady? She just smiled, though, and tucked a strand of her chestnut-brown hair behind her ear, and walked with him toward the entrance.

 

He gave the tickets to the man at the reception desk, and started to show Theresa around. It had been quite a while since he’d been, and he was excited to see the new exhibits, especially the new collection of military jets and memorabilia he’d read about in the pamphlets while he was waiting.

 

“Let’s go over here,” Theresa said, reaching for his hand and pulling him to a corner of the room. It took a few seconds for Martin to think past _she’s holding my hand, she’s holding my hand, oh my god,_ and realize she was directing them toward an exhibit on equipment used in twentieth and twenty-first century warfare.

 

She told Martin she’d studied history in university and had a particular interest in World War II codebreaking technologies, and she told him about some of them. The passion in her eyes as she talked was beautiful, and Martin thought she would make an excellent historian or tour guide if she wanted. He told her so when she noticed him watching her.

 

Shrugging, Theresa tried to brush the compliment off. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be very good at talking in front of so many people. But, just talking to you is nice.” She flashed him a bright smile, and Martin smiled back, feeling shy suddenly.

 

“So, what do you want to show me?” Theresa asked, taking his arm and leaning into him.

 

“Ah, um, well…” Martin gestured to another nearby exhibit on historical military planes and explained about their engines and firepower, and Theresa, instead of looking bored and distracted like most people did when he started talking about airplanes, seemed engaged, her eyes bright, nodding attentively to show she was following, and occasionally asking questions and putting in comments of her own.

 

They went through the other historical exhibits, taking turns telling each other about the things they knew about, and then Martin showed her around the rest of the museum. He didn’t know how she put up with him ranting about airplanes for so long, but she seemed to be enjoying it as much as Martin himself was.

 

“Martin, you could be a tour guide too if you wanted!” she told him later, when they’d decided they’d seen everything they wanted to. “You can be very engaging when you’re talking about something you’re passionate about.”

 

He was pretty sure the tourists would get bored and leave halfway through, but it was still an awfully sweet thing for her to say.

 

“I think I’ll just stick to giving you tours for now, too. I definitely wouldn’t be very good at talking to a lot of people,” he laughed a little, and Theresa laughed too.

 

Theresa looked down at her watch. “It’s just about lunchtime,” she said, meeting his eyes again. “Would you want to go get something?”

 

“Oh! Sure, yes, that sounds brilliant. There’s a rather nice pub across the street that I think you’d like.”

 

“Alright,” she smiled, latching onto his arm as they left the museum.

 

It was raining harder now, Martin realized belatedly as they stepped out into the downpour, and he didn’t even have an umbrella. Cursing softly under his breath, he took off his jacket and awkwardly tried to cover both their heads as they ran across the street. The inside of the pub was warm and comfortable, and Theresa was laughing and breathless, brushing the water drops out of her hair and holding onto his arm. He laughed too, and touched her arm.

 

“This is better isn’t it?” He looked at her, and she was smiling at him. “You alright?”

 

“Yes, it’s much better. Thank you,” she said softly, fingers still gripping onto his sleeve. Then she stepped even closer and placed a hand on his chest, and then they were both leaning in, and then they were kissing. _He was kissing the princess of Liechtenstein…_

 

It was slow and unhurried, and Theresa pulled him even closer with a hand on the back of his neck. He stroked his fingers over her beautiful face, and he couldn’t stop the soft sound in the back of his throat. When they separated, she was grinning and flushed, and Martin felt pleased (and surprised) that he’d had such an effect on her. He took her hand and found them a table.

 

They took their time over lunch, spending almost another hour together sharing food and drinks and getting to know each other better. Martin didn’t feel like he had very much to contribute, but he enjoyed listening to Theresa do most of the talking. And she had lots of stories about what it was like to grow up as a princess.

 

“I was always very concerned about dragons when I was little,” she told him, and Martin laughed, remembering how he’d mentioned something about dragons more than once the other day.

 

“I’m sure you could’ve taken care of those no problem. Even as a child.” He reached across the table and carefully took her hand.

 

“Well, I did take care of your dragon rather nicely the other day, didn’t I?” Theresa’s tone was teasing but sweet, and she leaned forward over the table to kiss him again.

 

“You really did.” He laughed again. There was a pause and he looked down at their hands resting on the table, biting his lip, suddenly nervous. “This was a lot of fun for me. Maybe—y’know, if you want—we could—I mean, could we do this again sometime?” His face felt very hot, and he tried to take a deep breath, frustrated with his inability to get the right words out. Theresa just smiled at him, fond and genuine, and squeezed his hand.

 

“Yes, I’d like that. I had a lot of fun too, Martin,” she said, and Martin’s chest felt full of warmth.

 

“I’m glad,” he murmured, then leaned forward again and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. He was surprised by how easy and familiar it felt, and he thought just maybe he could get used to kissing the princess of Liechtenstein.

**Author's Note:**

> like Martin, I'm also a huge nerd so I had to check Duxford Air Museum's website for research purposes... 
> 
> I found some info here ( https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/exhibits ) on some of the exhibits they have!


End file.
